Fox News ‘Moroccan Shooter’ Tweet Deleted: Alexandre Bissonnette Was Trump Fan
Fox News is being taken to task for immediately reporting that Alexandre Bissonnette was of Moroccan descent, leading many to initially believe that the Quebec City mosque shooter was Muslim. However, as reported by the Inquisitr, Bissonnette’s Facebook page proved Alexandre was a French-Canadian university student and a fan of President Donald Trump. Alexandre reportedly left harassing and “trolling” comments on a page for refugees and called feminists “femi-Nazis.”
Alexandre Bissonnette Facebook Photos: Quebec Shooter Liked Trump On Facebook – Trolled Refugees, ‘FemiNazis’ Online https://t.co/6Lh7ThmAjc
— The Inquisitr (@theinquisitr) January 31, 2017
It took until January 31, for Fox News to declare the following about Alexandre, calling the 27-year-old a man who had his demons — one not of Moroccan descent, but a fan of leaders like President Donald Trump and Marine Le Pen.
“Bissonnette was a fan of French far-right leader Marine Le Pen and U.S. President Donald Trump. Those who monitor extremist groups in Quebec described him as someone who took extreme nationalist, pro-Le Pen positions at Laval University and on social media.”
That report from Fox News only came after plenty of controversy over the backlash that occurred over the original title of the outlet’s articl, which can still be seen in Google reading as such, “Suspect in Quebec mosque terror attack was of Moroccan.” Clicking on the Fox News article shows that the title has been updated to“Suspect charged with murder in Quebec mosque terror attack,” but some of the original text that was contained in the original article can still be seen in Google, as excerpted below.
“One of two gunmen who shouted ‘Allahu akbar!’ as they opened fire at a mosque in Quebec City was of Moroccan origin, a witness and local media reported Monday, revealing the first details about the attackers in the massacre that killed six men…”
In their own defense, Fox News blamed Reuters and La Presse for early reports that indicated there may have been more than one shooter in the Quebec City tragedy, pegging one of the shooters as a man of Moroccan origin. It’s an erroneous report that Fox News said they picked up on and eventually corrected, reporting that Alexandre was the sole shooter. The other man initially erroneously reported as a shooter was Mohamed el Khadir, who was actually a witness.
Fox News said a white terror suspect was ‘Moroccan’. Then Justin Trudeau stepped in | indy100 https://t.co/LOR0SIdpkM
— Amanduh (@AmanduhWybolt) February 1, 2017
However, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau did not like what Fox News reported about the shooter and the fact that the erroneous tweet wasn’t immediately deleted. As seen in the following tweet from Kate Purchase, who is Director of Communications for Prime Minister Trudeau, Kate criticized Fox News for their mistaken tweet.
Earlier today I sent an email to @FoxNews about their misleading tweet yesterday. We will continue to stand up for our citizens (1/3) pic.twitter.com/sGz47PxMcb
— Kate Purchase (@katepurchase) January 31, 2017
Eventually, Fox News would respond to the outcry and delete their tweet, a move that Kate would thank the outlet for accomplishing.
Meanwhile, a search for “Fox News Moroccan” on Twitter results in plenty of tweets criticizing Fox News for their rush to report the misleading news that the shooter may have been Moroccan and their slowness at deleting the tweet. On Facebook, a search for “Fox News Moroccan” also results in people blasting Fox News for initially refusing to delete their tweet that proclaimed the shooter was Moroccan.
As seen in the below photo, the Eiffel Tower was turned off directly after midnight to memorialize the Quebec City victims. That tribute took place on Tuesday, January 31 in Paris. The actual shooting happened at a Quebec City mosque on Sunday night during evening prayers. The shooting took the lives of six people and wounded eight others. The prime minister of Canada called Bissonnette’s actions an act of terrorism.
As seen in the top photo above, President Trump spoke in the East Room of the White House on Tuesday, January 31.
Editor’s note: Fox News reached out to the editors of the Inquisitr with the following statement.
“FoxNews.com initially corrected the misreported information with a tweet and an update to the story on Monday. The earlier tweets have now been deleted. We regret the error.”
[Featured Image by Carolyn Kaster/AP Images]
